transitive v. Baseball To swing at a pitch near (home plate) in order to avoid being called out on strikes.

transitive v. Baseball To swing at a pitch so as to give (a base runner) a better chance of advancing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

v. To keep safe; to defend; to guard; to prevent harm coming to.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

transitive v. To cover or shield from danger or injury; to defend; to guard; to preserve in safety.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

To cover or shield from danger, harm, damage, trespass, exposure, insult, temptation, or the like; defend; guard; preserve in safety: applied with a wide range, both literally and figuratively, actively and passively.

To act as protector or regent for. Compare protector, 2 .

Specifically, in political economics, to guard or strengthen against foreign competition by means of a protective duty.

Examples

Executives under Ms. Robinson used the phrase "protect and grow" to describe their approach, often to the irritation of digital-side employees who have said the emphasis on protecting the Times too often stunted growth elsewhere.

Finally, asked why his family hasn't appeared with him on the campaign trail, including his wife and adult children, Cain repeats that he is "an unconventional candidate" and wants to protect his family although he doesn't use the word "protect".